Shōyō Hinata
is the main protagonist of the Haikyuu!! series. He is a first year student at the Karasuno High School. At his junior high he was the captain of his team and a wing spiker. After joining Karasuno High School he became a middle blocker. Hinata's dream is to become strong enough to spike past tall blockers just like the "Small Giant" once did. That's why he specializes in jumping to compensate his lack of height. Appearance Hinata is quite short for a volleyball player with 162cm. He has fluffy orange hair and brown eyes. While playing matches, he wears the Karasuno jersey with the number 10. Personality Hinata is a cheerful and energetic person with a straight forward personality. He's hard working and always eager to improve his skills. He has no problem talking to other people even if it's his biggest rival or just girls from school. However, his straight forward personality often becomes a problem to other people throughout the manga such as Kageyama and Tsukishima who can't deal with his words at the start of the manga. While in a match, Hinata can become a very serious person who would do everything for his team to achieve his goal. His presence on the field can become so strong that rival players start perceiving him as a danger. This presence is also one of his main reasons he wields the name of the "Strongest Decoy" in his team. His strong will to become stronger is so present that it becomes even a burden to other players in his team, seeing as his skills grow rapidly with each match. Background On a day home Hinata passed a TV store where the "Springtime High School Volleyball Nationals" were shown. This is where Hinata saw the "Small Giant" for the first time in action, a wing spiker from the Karasuno High School with a height about 170cm who scored against bigger players than him. Hinata was so impressed that he decided to start playing volleyball and become like the "Small Giant". Story Abilities Because of his small height, Hinata trained a lot to jump as high as his opponents which leads to his unbelievable jump height. This ability to compensate his small height by jumping makes it possible for him to play as a middle blocker in his first year in Karasuno, which is fairly uncommon as middle blockers are usually the tallest persons in a team. Another noteable ability is his agility which becomes an advantage for being the "Strongest Decoy". Thanks to these two abilities he can change the position on the field rapidly and is able to act unpredictably. Additionally, Hinata speaks in chapter 80 of his ability to "see" the entire field while he is mid-air, enabling him to predict his opponents' actions by seeing every of their movements. It is said that if he were to master this ability and use it consciously, it could lead him to become an even greater player. In terms of techniques, Hinata constantly learns new ones throughout the story: *'Oddball Quick Strike: '''A strike that is enabled by Kageyama's "King's Toss", a toss that was called impossible to spike. Initially, Hinata can only do it with his eyes closed by relying on Kageyama tossing it right into his hands. After a fight with Kageyama and training both with Ukai Sr. and by himself, he manages to spike the Oddball Quick Strike with his eyes open too. *'Broad attack:' Hinata is able to do a broad attack due to his agility. On the spur of the moment, he is able to sprint from one side of the field to the other and spike the ball to the other side. He is first seen of doing that sort of attack in the very first chapter in the match against Kitagawa Daiichi although just accidentally, but is able to use it willingly later on. *'Feint:''' learnt from Bokuto as a "special finishing move". He tricks the opponents into thinking he will spike but does not in the end, making it difficult for the blockers to block it and for those in the back row to receive it. He uses it the first time in chapter 92. Relationships Kageyama Tobio They first met each other in middle school during their third year playing against each other. While he is intimidated by Kageyama's title of "The King of the Upper Court", Hinata also feels incredibly motivated by the fact that he plays against someone stronger than him. He overhears a conversation between Kageyama and one of his teammates and understands that Kageyama, despite being obviously superior, does not underestimate his team. After his loss, Hinata makes clear to Kageyama that he will defeat him eventually when they are in high school, a challenge accepted by Kageyama too. Seeing as they both then join Karasuno, they are forced to join forces instead of going against each other which both boys heavily dislike at first. Kageyama heavily refuses to play with Hinata but is forced to by Daichi who makes clear that he is not allowed to play on the position he prefers if he keeps refusing to cooperate with Hinata. Hinata himself is not too fond of the idea either but realizes this means that an actual setter will toss to him, and one whose abilities he respects too despite not admitting it openly. It turns out to be difficult because Kageyama doesn't acknowledge him at first and doesn't want to toss to him but gains his trust as Hinata shows an iron will to accept absolutely any ball that is tossed to him that he expresses with a promise to Kageyama to do so. Their relationship becomes much better then, as Hinata does something none of his former teammates for him: he spikes Kageyama's King's Toss that used to be called impossible to spike and calls out to him that he will be there, no matter what. Realizing Hinata managed to spike it with his eyes closed and putting 100% of trust into Kageyama's toss, he promises right back to make Hinata the strongest on court as long as he is the one who tosses. They are seen to hang out a lot after training too, namely while at school, even though they are not in the same class, implying that they get along fairly well (despite both of them refusing to admit that). Called a "chemical reaction" by Takeda which allows them to be perfectly synchronized on court, they keep playing together being called "Karasuno's Secret Weapon" for their Oddball Quick Strike. In chapter 79, however, Hinata proposes to change their Oddball Quick Strike: Instead of spiking it with his eyes closed and relying on trusting Kageyama to toss it perfectly, he wants to be able to spike any of Kageyama's tosses like that with his eyes opened. He explains his change of mind with the fact that Kageyama apologized to him after their match against Aobajousai, obviously taking the blame on himself for tossing to Hinata (and ultimately losing by doing that) even though Hinata obviously knows he was the one who missed to make a point. Kageyama objects to that idea, as do Ukai and Suga, but Hinata holds onto his idea anyway. He then follows Kageyama's proposal of trying that out with his eyes opened but fails to strike any of the tosses Kageyama makes. They start fighting over this matter, attacking each other to be ultimately scolded by Tanaka for their behaviour. After that, Hinata walks home with Yachi who tries to cheer him up and states that he doesn't understand Kageyama but that he figured that even though they might not be able to become friends due to their rivalry he wanted them to be partners. Despite his fight with Kageyama, Hinata still tries to improve his abilities, as proposed by Kageyama, and is led by Ukai to train with his grandfather, Ukai Sr. He does so and continues training until they all go for the summer training camp in Tokyo. Hinata realizes that not only he has been training by himself but that Kageyama also did, noticing he tosses differently from before. He manages to spike Kageyama's tosses but not yet the Oddball Quick Strike yet it still helps to improve their relationship again. In one of the training matches, Kageyama happens to unconsciously toss a ball to Hinata as he used to as he noticed how stressed out Hinata was and they almost start fighting again but the situation clears up just fine as Kageyama explains he didn't do it on purpose but also states that even though he thought they'd already be able to play together again, he doesn't want to do so yet. They start training seperately yet, getting along almost as good as before their fight though and continuosly making sure the other doesn't slack off. In their training match against Fukurodani in chapter 93, they manage to bring back the Oddball Qucik Strike, and this time with Hinata's eyes opened. They celebrate it and Hinata states, for the first time straight to Kageyama's face, that it was really amazing. Trivia *Favorite food: tamago kake gohan *Current concern: He can't catch the ball one-handed. Quotes *"Before my eyes, it blocks the path. A high, high wall. What sort of scene is on the other side? What will I be able to see there? 'The view from the top.' A scenery that I will never be able to see on my own. But if I'm not alone, then... I might be able to see it---" - Shouyou Hinata, chapter 1 Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Karasuno High Volleyball Club Category:Wing Spikers Category:Middle Blockers Category:Yukigaoka Junior High Volleyball Club